The clipboard is one of the most commonly used tools across operating systems, window managers and devices. Pressing Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V has become so fundamentally important to productivity and usability that we cannot get rid of it anymore. We happily and often thoughtlessly copy things from one source and paste them into another. URLs into address-bars, lengthy commands into console windows, text segments into web editors and mail interfaces. And we never worry about security when doing so. Because what could possibly go wrong, right?

But have we ever asked ourselves what the clipboard content actually consists of? Do we really know what it contains? And are we aware of the consequences a thoughtless copy&paste interaction can have? Who else can control the contents of the clipboard? Is it really just us doing Ctrl-C or is there other forces in the realm who are able to infect what we believe to be clean, who can desecrate what we trust so blindly that we never question or observe it?

This talk is about the clipboard and the technical details behind it. How it works, what it really contains – and who can influence its complex range of contents. We will learn about a new breed of targeted attacks, including cross-application XSS from PDF, ODT, DOC and XPS that allow to steal website accounts faster than you can click, turn your excel sheet into a monster and learn about ways to smuggle creepy payload that is hidden from sight until it executes. Oh, and we’ll also see what can be done about that and what defensive measures we achieved to create so far.